You're a lamb. You run a cult. Combo roguelite & cult management simulator; time has to be balanced between both elements of the game in order to progress. I feel that the actual roguelite portion (the dungeon runs) could be slightly less repetitive at points, but I didn't think it was a major hinderance to my enjoyment of the game overall. Pretty fast paced and replayable, there's a lot of room for story progression and the game continues even after the main plotline has been completed. Very cute, polished art style, really nails the "creepy cute" vibe of its characters in a way I enjoy a lot. I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with around 100 hours put into it.

This is a precursor to the planned full Die in the Dungeon game, which is still in production. Also, it's free - honestly, I think it's too good a game to cost absolutely nothing! This features more of a tabletop style, with deckbuilder elements (although featuring dice, rather than cards). I think it's a bit simple and loses replayability after a certain point, but that's to be expected since it's more a proof of concept than a full-fledged story game. Very fun mechanics and a cute pixel art style, and I think it's fairly challenging to master. Really looking forward to the complete game's release, since I loved this one so much! I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with around 30 hours put into it.

Greek mythology theme, as the name implies. Similar roguelite mechanics to CotL in terms of the dungeon style; however, the mechanics are more challenging and require a a certain level of strategy. No management elements, although there are cosmetic and functional upgrades that can be earned outside of the dungeon, as well as a number of plot lines to be explored. I played this a lot several years ago; I think it keeps a fantastic balance between being challenging but not overly punishing, and there are options to make the gameplay a bit easier if you struggle. (Personally, this was my first fighting game, so I needed the extra help.) Art style is gorgeous, the characters are interesting and fun interpretations of the originals. Not necessarily lore accurate to the actual mythos, if you're a pedant like me, but still really enjoyable. As of writing this, Hades 2 is in early access stages, and I'm looking forward to its full release! I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with around 130 hours put into it.

One of my all-time favorite games. This one is another deckbuilder, with traditional cards this time. I found that I had a lot of trouble learning all the mechanics at first, but after a ton of play they all felt very natural and (reasonably) balanced. I will say that I personally don't love the ARG elements as much as some fans, they're just not for me; however, if that's your thing, this is absolutely the game for you. Similarly, I had some difficulty transitioning between "chapters," just because my brain isn't really wired for that kind of cosmetic shake-up, but in retrospect I think it was done really fantastically, and on replay I enjoyed it much more. I also really love the way Inscryption does storytelling (aside from the out-of-game components), and I think it maintains some really fantastic atmosphere and plot throughout. Wonderfully creepy and engaging, plus, after you finish the main plotlines there's still a mode designed for infinite replayability. I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with around 130 hours put into it (although I'm always racking up more in the infinite gamemode).

Really wonderfully done logic puzzle game where the solutions come in the form of rewriting the rules and mechanics. Breaks puzzles down into components of pure logic statements, which it's up to you as the player to interpret, take apart, and reuse to your advantage. It's hard to describe Baba in classic game terms because it's pretty unique. Hiding incredibly complicated and perhaps even devious puzzle difficulties behind its cute exterior, and has a fantastic use of conventionally accepted game meta. Super frustrating game, but in a rewarding way. I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with around 24 hours put into it, and yes, I had to look up some of the solutions.

CrossCells is... fine. It's not really my cup of tea, since I'm not great with this kind of number logic, but it's simple, short, and sweet. If you're a big fan of Sudoku or similar puzzle styles, I think you'd probably enjoy this a lot. Not a ton of replayability - of course, with the low price, I think it's still worth the purchase. This is for numbers-logic people. I fully completed CrossCells, including all achievements, with around 2 hours put into it. I'm also listing HexCells in the same entry because they share a lot of their fundamental premise and style, & they're by the same person - if you like one, you'll like the other, and vice versa. I've also fully completed HexCells, including all achievements, with around 2.5 hours put into it. Right now, I'm working through the rest of the series very slowly. Pretty good set of games, but not my favorite.

Point-and-click hidden object game. Pretty small and simple, and a bit more of an art piece than anything else, but I do love the style and spooky vibes. I fully completed this game, including all achievements, in a little under 2 hours. The creator has another game, Landlord of the Woods, that I have my eye on next.

Adorable puzzle game where you play as a mother cat making bento boxes for her kitten. I felt that there was a good difficulty range as the game progressed, but it never got too complicated. Sweet story, sweet design, and fun to spend an afternoon running through. I fully completed this one, including all achievements, in about 2 hours.

This one is pretty fun and subversive, playing a lot with the idea of "video game space" and object dimensionality in the puzzles it presents. I'd recommend this for anyone who likes that kind of "meta" game style. Unfortunately, I can't give a full and complete review as my poor laptop absolutely HATES running Superliminal - but from what I've seen, really solid stuff. I have not completed the game.

This is a walking simulator game, where you have to find the puzzles just to progress. I think it does some absolutely amazing interplay between the environment and the "flat" puzzles themselves, and has some amazing moments in it when it comes to out-of-the-box solutions. Overall, it has a very soothing atmosphere, which distracted me from how annoyed I was getting at some of the puzzle difficulties. I played for 5 hours and can only confidently say that I'm not sure how far in I actually got, only that it wasn't as far as I needed to go to complete it! I disliked the lack of clues, although some people would probably consider this a bonus. Decent game, not for me. Obviously, I have not completed the game.

This one toes the line between visual novel and puzzle game: essentially, it is your job to select the correct story elements in order to open up new plot threads for your doomed player characters. Adorable pixel art style with a lot of bright colors and silly fantasy tropes. My only criticism is that it's too short, because I could have been satisfied playing for much longer. I fully completed the game, including all achievements, with about an hour and a half put into it.

This collection is great. The games are all surrealist horror point-and-clicks with some really odd, fun logic. They were originally Flash games - I have distinct memories of playing them on shady game websites around 2017 - that are now a fully fledged series, with recurring characters and stories throughout. As a note, when I say "Cube Escape Collection," I'm referring not only to that title, but also to all the other Rusty Lake games, including Paradox, Roots, Paradise, Underground Blossom, Hotel, The White Door, Samsara Room, and The Past Within. All of these are interconnected, and each is relatively inexpensive if you'd like to get a taste of the style without committing to the full thing. I've loved them for years, and I find them genuinely very fun and engaging. I'm not personally a huge fan of the ARG/out-of-game stuff (I've established that I like all my story to be kept in the same place, like with Inscryption) but some people adore it and, honestly, I don't feel it detracts too much from the story within the games. Brilliantly confusing and haunting, plus lots of fun! I've fully completed all of these games as of right now, including all achievements, although Rusty Lake is still producing more. I've put, at a conservative estimate, about 75 total hours into the games when you add them all up.

This one is a dating sim - which isn't always my favorite - but I thought it did have plenty of very cute features, and it's completely free to play! Pretty short and sweet, which is pretty expected given its price tag, but I did enjoy it. The game includes some fun and interesting mechanics beyond your standard romance VN. It took me 2 hours to complete the game entirely. (Also, while on the subject, I'd be remiss not to bring up the other game I've played from the same devs: Amelie. It's a yuri horror visual novel. Very short - I fully completed the game in under an hour! - but if you're a real fan of visual novels or lesbians you might enjoy this one.)

Ah, Doki Doki. The game I haven't picked up since July of 2018. This one is a horror visual novel that sets itself up as a dating sim before taking a sharp dive into left field, and touches on some incredibly heavy themes. The "visual novel where cute anime girls get brutally killed in a twist ending" trope a bit trite and overdone now, to be honest, but DDLC was one of the originators of the trope (as far as I'm aware!), and it definitely was the game that got me into both visual novels and horror back then. I do think it did some genuinely fun stuff with the genre, and I have fond memories of digging through the game files for secrets, so it's going to make the list, regardless of how it's aged into mostly jokes. I never bought the expanded version, so I don't have any achievements or anything, but I apparently plugged 9 hours into the original, which I would consider "completed."